——— Minho ———
After the duel with Kimus, Mira has been getting popular. Or at least drawing the attention of people.
"Can I sit with you for lunch?"
A girl named Elena came over to Mina's desk when lunchtime started, holding a lunch box wrapped in fine silk.
"Er… sure…", it was clear that Mira wasn't used to this.
"Hehe, thanks."
Other than not being used to it, I knew why Mira wasn't particularly keen on the idea. All she brought for lunch was half a loaf of plain bread that tasted like wet cardboard dissolved in water and lumped together to dry.
Elena unwrapped the silk cover and revealed a finely crafted wooden lunch box with elaborate carvings. When she opened it, what was inside looked even better.
Seeing this, Mira hesitated in taking her bread out from her bag - more like just a sack - and fidgeted.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
"Actually… I'm not so hungry."
"Really? Oh, sorry I asked to eat together then…"
Elena blushed a little in embarrassment as if she realized she'd done something inappropriate.
"No. No. It's perfectly fine!", Mira stretched her arms forward and shook her palms profusely.
I decided to butt in.
"Ahem. The great mage Minakong Ilennis Rasparan Ayenne of Kakwaszavoot Clan has so much mana that if she eats too much it can go on overdrive."
"You remembered my name?!", Mira looked at me with her eyes wide open, half surprised and half delighted.
"Of course, every Demon must know the Master's name."
"That is really impressive, Mira", Elena was genuinely, well, impressed.
"Haha. I was just trying to be modest, but my silly Demon just had to open his foolish mouth."
Great. Try to praise her and get insulted.
But I will help her out a bit here.
"But Master, may I suggest that you still have your lunch?"
Mira looked a little puzzled why I was getting her out of trouble only to shove her back into it.
"The bread I prepared may not taste the best, but it will help keep your mana level stable. Modest food is good for mages of your caliber."
She finally realized what I was trying to do and a happy grin rose up at the corner of her lips.
"Sure! If you say so, Human."
I then made a theatrical gesture of taking the bread out of her bag and handed it over to her with both hands.
"Your Human is so nice to you.", Elena almost seemed jealous but with no malice.
"Thank you.", Mira took the bread and started chomping on it.
"May I… also try just a tiny piece?", the impressed girl couldn't hold back her curiosity and Mira almost choked at the suggestion, for it was certain that if Elena tried this she would realize just how cheap and rank Mira's bread was.
Minho to the rescue again, then.
"Ms. Elena. This is bread infused with a trace of Human magic. Unless you have capacity for it, you may not find it a pleasant experience."
The girl hesitated a little as Mira looked at me with her face that said 'Good one', but surprisingly, Elena accepted the challenge.
"I would like to try just a tiny tiny tiny piece of it… just to see if I can take it. May I?"
My Master looked at me asking with her eyes if she should give her new friend some and I blinked in approval.
Mira took a small piece of the bread, perhaps the size of a finger nail from a pinkie, and handed it over to Elena. The girl then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gently put it into her mouth.
Needless to say, she winced in absolute disgust, trying to hold it in, but she only lasted three seconds at max before she spat it out on her palm.
Elena looked both extremely embarrassed and impressed at the same time.
"Mira… you are… amazing. I'm no match for you."
As the girl admitted her defeat, Mira took a huge bit of the bread and chewed on it vigorously.
"Really? I can eat this every day."
Elena could only watch in awe with her jaws dropped as low as it was physically possible.
Another boy overheard the conversation and stood up to face the challenge.
"I bet I can eat it."
"You think so, Andrey?"
"If YOU can take it, I can."
Without hesitation, he aggressively yanked the whole bread out of Mira's hand and took as big a bite as Mira had just done.
Fool.
Andrey immediately fell on his knees, his face pale. I did well to catch Mira's lunch mid-air before it dropped.
"I… I can't believe it…"
The boy was disgusted and devastated.
Now Mira was in full swing.
"Hahahahaha! Does anybody else want to try?"
A few other boys bravely rose to the challenge - Lyam, Bartek, and Albin.
The reaction was the same. None of them could last more than two seconds of chewing it.
"Well, well, well. This isn't a big deal for me."
Mira took another triumphant bite of the bread as the other students who were gathering around her desk looked on in amazement.
Just as we thought we defeated everyone in the class, another boy approached the group. I remembered his name to be Timus. An easy name to remember consider that I heard other boys make fun of him calling Timid Tim in more than a few occassions.
Kimus, who was among the group but didn't dare to try the bread, scoffed.
"Timid Tim? You? Ha!"
Timid Tim however had another plan.
"I will try to feed it to my unicorn. They are inherently magical creatures and must be able to take it."
Mira seemed a little taken aback, but I was absolutely confident and gave her the sign that it was OK.
Timus then undid the Concealment Magic of his unicorn.
It was a beautiful white creature with a glowing horn, just as they were portrayed in the fairy tales of my world.
Mira gave Timus a small chunk of her magic bread, and he fed it to the unicorn.
All hell broke loose.
The unicorn's horn started to flash in black - How is that even possible? -, it hee-hawed like a poor donkey, rolled around on the floor, then got up to 'bark' at Timus as if it was scolding him.
"I… I'm sorry!", Timus apologized but it was too late. The unicorn turned its head away from poor Tim with an expression equivalent of "I had enough of you" in human terms, and dissolved into thin air.
"It… it's gone!!!", Tim squealed and the little crowd that gathered around Mira's table gasped.
"What do you mean it's gone?"
Albin, who was defeated by the bread earlier, asked with a trembling voice.
"It… it disappeared… I can't feel its presence anymore…"
I had to hold back from laughing.
Idiot. It probably went back to wherever it came from because it can no longer accept you as a master.
While it was funny, it also made me wonder though - is it possible for a Servant to desert its Master? Celestine offered to take me in before, so it seemed possible that changing allegiance was possible. But to disappear and get un-summoned by its own volition?
It was an interesting thought that swirled in my mind amidst Mira's laughter.